This week, our research team tracked more than 110 tech funding deals worth over €1.6 billion, and over a dozen exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.
As always, we are putting all of them together for you in a list sent in our round-up newsletter next Monday (note: the full list is for paying customers only, and also comes in the form of a handy downloadable spreadsheet).
We've also got some news for you: we're already gearing up for the second edition of the Tech.eu Summit! Save the date:
24 May in Brussels.
If you haven't seen them yet, we've made all the videos from the Tech.eu Summit last May available as a playlist on our YouTube channel - enjoy!
With that said, let's get down to business with the biggest European tech news items for the past couple of days (subscribe to our free newsletter to get this round-up in your inbox).
What happened this week in European Tech?
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>> Notable and big funding rounds
Estonian-founded Sunly raised €200 million to speed up renewable energy production in Europe.
Barcelona-based HR management platform Factorial has garnered $120 million in a Series C round that saw the company obtain the coveted unicorn crown.
Spanish electric vehicle charging company Zunder has raised €100 million from French sustainable investment manager Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, in a bid to accelerate the rollout of ultra-fast EV charging stations across Southern Europe.
Parisian startup Homa has raised $100 million in a Series B round. The platform offers game developers a full suite of tools, data insights, and revenue generation options.
Manchester-based customer engagement platform Connex One has secured £93 million in a Series C funding round.
Fluro, the UK consumer lender previously known as Lending Works, announced a landmark £200 million financing partnership with BNP Paribas.
Amsterdam-based Crisp, an app-only supermarket focused on ultra-fresh food, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €75 million in a fresh round of funding from existing and new investors.
London-founded blockchain development platform Tatum has raised $41.5 million in a round led by Evolution Equity Partners.
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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
As reported by Bloomberg, Istanbul-based Getir is, "is in advanced talks to buy rival Gorillas, people familiar with the matter said."
Prosus, the Dutch-based technology investor, has agreed to sell its Russian online marketplace Avito for 151 billion roubles ($2.46 billion), to Kismet Capital Group.
London headquartered currency management automation software firm Kantox has announced its €120 million acquisition by BNP Paribas after a three-year partnership.
The consumer credit arm of Italian investment bank Mediobanca Group has made two fintech investments designed to boost its BNPL operations. Mediobanca's Compass unit has acquired Italian fintech Soisy and bought a 19.5% stake in Swiss outfit HeidiPay.
Alternative asset manager Pollen Street has acquired a majority stake in Berlin-based online debt-collecting platform PAIR Finance.
Alva Labs, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of a digital hiring tool, acquired its neighbour DevSkills, a creator of coding tests for evaluating technical competence of developers.
Spherics, a UK-based carbon accounting platform for SMEs to understand and reduce their environmental impact, has been acquired by accounting giant Sage.
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>> Interesting moves from investors
The world of Impact Investing was given a boost this week when London-based global investment platform Lightrock closed its first ever Climate Impact Fund at the oversubscribed amount of €860 million.
Meet Resonance, a new Paris-based $150 million fund backed 100% by Otium Capital.
ICO will invest up to €450 million in nine private equity funds that will channel up to € 2 billion into Spanish companies.
Prague-based Credo Ventures announced the final closing of its fourth flagship fund 'CS4' at €75 million.
Verium has reached a 120 million Swiss francs (about €125 million) close on its continuation fund for its investments in Swiss embedded hardware company Toradex and energy solutions company Mobil in Time.
Prague-based venture capital firm DEPO Ventures announced the launch of its third angel fund. The new fund is aiming for €20 million.
Enterprise Ireland has launched a new stream of funding to support early-stage startup companies.
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>> In other (important) news
Google could face EU antitrust charges next year over its digital advertising business, putting the company at risk of its fourth fine in the EU of more than a billion euros.
European Union lawmakers signed off the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA)—landmark legislation that hopes to regulate the digital asset space within the union.
British online fashion retailer ASOS is in talks with lenders to amend the terms of its $391 million borrowing facility.
E-commerce giant Amazon is set to invest €1 billion in electrifying its fleet in European markets, with £300 million allocated for the UK.
The European Commission is working on integrating Horizon Europe-like innovation initiatives into the European Defence Fund (EDF) to close the “information gap” between the civil and defence research programmes.
Some EU countries want the bloc's billion-euro chip plan to fund the production of current cutting edge chips and not just first-of-its kind chips proposed by the European Commission, according to an EU document seen by Reuters.
Bristol-based semiconductor company Graphcore has lost its deal with Microsoft and seen key investors write down their stakes.
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>> Recommended reads and listens
European venture funding for third-quarter 2022 continues to fall, sliding to its lowest point in nearly two years as early-stage investment shows clear signs of weakness.
WIRED spoke with Skype cofounder Niklas Zennström about why the burgeoning European startup scene is poised to lead the technological revolution.
EIF Venture Capital Survey 2022: Market sentiment and impact of the current geopolitical & macroeconomic environment
Funding with debt: The story behind Grover’s borrowed $2.1 billion
As AI accelerates, can Europe keep up?
Way back before Bitpanda exploded into the fintech unicorn it is today, Berlin-based neobank N26 had its eyes on the crypto company.
Crowdcube Chief Commercial Officer Matt Cooper outlines how and why it’s more important than ever for founders and entrepreneurs working in the cleantech space to harness the power of ‘the crowd’
Europe’s quantum computing infrastructure to get six new engines
Is Europe’s fintech boom on the verge of fizzling out?
If you're worried that WFH is holding up your climbing the corporate ladder, you might be right.
Inside Sono Motors’ family-friendly $25,000 solar EV
The UK must continue to spend big on national security technologies such as quantum computing in order to resist Chinese dominance, a British spy chief said.
MiCA: What Europe’s cryptoassets regulation means for the continent
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